Planooraph co



A. W. FRENCH. CAGE AND DRAINAGE PLATE FOR OIL EXPRESSING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 3|. 1917.

1,311,160. Pat9nt9dJu1y29, 1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Vii V 1 A. W. FRENCH.

CAGE AND DRAINAGE PLATE FOR OIL EXPRESSING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-31.1917.

Patented July 29, 1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

A TTURA/EV.

RM'II co.. WASHINGTON n c A. w. FRENCH. I @AGE AND DRAINAGE PLATE FOR OIL EXPRESSING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 3| 191'7.

Patented July 29, 1919.

a SHEETS-SHEET s. /9/

THE COLUMBIA PLANOORAPH co., WASHINO TON. D- C.

ALFRED w. rnnncn, or Prone, 01110.

GAGE AND DRATNAG'rE-PLATE FOR OIL-EXPRESSING PRESSES.

Specification of Iietters Patent.

Patented July 29, 1919.

Application filed December 31, 1917. Serial No. 209,684. 7

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED WV. FRENCH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Piqua, in the county of Miami and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful. 11nprovement in Cages and Drainage-Plates for Oil-Expressing Presses, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to oil drainage plates or cages for oil expressing presses. While the plates forming the subject of the invention are particularly desirable for lining the open-ended vertical cages employed in presses of the cage-type, the invention is nevertheless also applicable to the press plates of that type of presses in which a series'of vertically movable horizontal press plates are employed between: which formed cakes of the oil-bearing meal or material are pressed.

' In theuse of cage presses, the superposed layers or charges of material in the cage are separatedby loose plates'andpress cloths and the oil expressed from the materialfinds itswayto the sides of the press cage and escapes through openings in the side walls of the cage. In some cages the openings are formed bynarrow spaces left between separate parallel slats or 'bars. These cages are ofcomplicated construction and difficulty is frequently experienced in preventing the bending or displacement of the slats or bars. In other cages, linin plates in the cage are provided With sma l drill holes through whichthe oil passes to flow channels formed inthe walls of the cage. These drill holes must be very small at their inner ends to "prevent the escape of the material through the holes, and in order to aiford the adequate drainage each of the lining plates must have a "great number, usually many thousands, of these small perforations. 1 "The drilling of these minute holes in the plate is a very laborious and expensive operation, due in part tothefrequent breaking of the slender drills. One object of this invention is to produce a'drainage plate for oil expressing presses which gives a greater drainage area for the oilflthanplates having small drill holes and in whichthe oil escape openings are of sufiiciently small size to prevent the escape of the oil bearing meal or materialbut which is strong and durableand can be manufactured expeditiously and at moderate ex pense. Another object of the invention is pressure to which the to provide a drainage plate for oil presses which has continuous narrow oil escape slits affording a very free escape for the oil, but which is nevertheless strong and rigid and not liable to be bent out of shape under the plates are subjected in the use of the press. a

In the accompanying drawings Y Figure 1 is a fragmentary elevation,

partly in section, of a cage press provided with a cage and drainage or lining plates therefor embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 1s a horizontal section thereof showing the press cage in plan. h

F 1g. 3 1s a fragmentary vertical section, on r a larger scale, of one of the lining-plates on line 33, Fig. 4.

Fig. is a fragmentary horizontalsection ofone of the walls of the press cage, the section of the lining plate being online H, Fig. 3. i a V Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section on the same scale as Fig. 3, of a lining plate.

of slightly modifiedconstruction.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary outside elevation of the plate shoWnin'Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is an elevation of the inner face of .one of the lining plates of the form shown in Figs. 1-4.

Fig. 8 is a similar view, full size, of. a fragment of one of the lining plates. i Fig; 9 is a similarview of the outer face of the plate.

Figs. 10 and 11 are respectively a crosssection and longitudinal section of a press plate provided with a mat or drainage plate I I embodying the invention. 7

Fig. 12 .is a view showing a portion of a lining plate in transverse section and i a roll for compressing the edges of the drain- .in the walls of the cage between the ribs a.

Each of the drainage plates B is provided in its inner side, or portion which is presented to the material in the cage, with a series of narrow slits or slots 13 which extend part way through the plate, and in its outer side or portion with a plurality of transverse holes 14 which extend to and commun'icate with the slits 13. Each slit 13 which, as shown, is continuous from the upper to the lower end of the plate, communicates with a plurality of the holes 14. Except in the modified construction shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the holes 14 are drill holes. These holes 14 are of a diameter greater than the width of the slits 13, and a sufficient number of them communicates with each slit to insure a free escape for the oil, the total volume capacity of the holes being preferably greater than that of the slits. The slits 1.3 can be made narrow enough to prevent the meal or material from escaping through them with the oil. While adequate openings for the free escape of the oil through the plate are thus provided, the plate is not weakened as it would be if the slits extended entirely through the plate, dividing it into separated strips.

In the construction shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the holes 15 in the outer side or portion of the plate are in the form of short slots wider than the slits 13, there being a plurality of these short slots communicating with each slit 13. These short slots can be formed in any suitable manner, as for instance by means of a milling cutter.

The narrow slits 13 in the inner side of the plate can be made by milling cutters and, after they are cut, the edges of each slit are pressed or forced toward each other, as shown at 16 in Fig. 12, to reduce the width of the slits at the inner face of the plate. This can be done conveniently by subjecting the plate to the action of a roller 17, Fig. 12, under suitable pressure. As shown in Fig. 12 each of the narrow slits, after the edges thereof are pressed as explained, has a narrow mouth portion at the inner face of the plate and a wider, or undercut, inner portion. This is desirable as it restricts the slit at the-face of the plate to a width which minimizes the loss of material through the slit and gives suflicient clearance inwardly from the mouth of the slit to enable any meal which may enter the slit to readily free itself and be washed out of the slit with the oil. In this way the slits 13 can be made very much narrower at the inner face of the plate than it is practicable to make them by cutting. For instance, the thinnest cutters which can be used successfully are about one thirty-second of an inch thick and even these frequently break, whereas by the described construction the slits can be out about one-sixteenth of an inch in width proximately one sixty-fourth of an inch, which gives better results than a slit one thirty-second of an inch wide.

18 indicates shallow depressions which are formed in the inner face of the drainage plate by the roller used for contracting the mouths of the slits 13. These depressions are an advantage for the reason that the mouths of the slits are thereby set back slightly from the face of the plate and are therefore less liable to wear. The plates used in the cage for separating the layers or charges of material some times rub or slide against the lining plates and consequently subject them to considerable wear. The depressions 18 prevent the contact of the separating plates with the mouths of the slits 13 and thus protect them from the wear which would otherwise result.

In the case of the horizontal press plates, these depressions assist in preventing the press cloths from slipping or creeping on the plates.

Figs. 10 and 11 show the application of the invention to horizontal press plates or boxes of the kind used in. cotton seed oil presses. In these figures, 181 indicates a drainage or mat plate arranged, as usual, on a grooved block 19 on the upper side of a main or supporting plate 20. The mat plate has narrow slits 21 in its upper side and connecting holes or openings 22 in its underside, preferably arranged and formed as before explained. The holes 22 lead to the flow channels or grooves23 in the underlying block or plate 19.

I claim as my invention:

1. A drainage plate for'oil presses having narrow drainage slits in the side thereof which faces the material being pressed, and a plurality of spaced openings in the opposite side of the plate connecting with each of said narrow slits, said slits havingcontracted mouths of less width than the inner portions of the slits. V

2. A drainage plate for oil presses having narrow drainage slits in;the side thereof which faces the material being pressed, and a plurality of spaced openings in-the opposite side of the plate connecting with each of said narrow slits, said slits having lips at their outer edges projecting toward each other from the opposite walls of the slits.

3. A drainage plate for oil presses having narrow drainage slits in the side thereof which faces the material being pressed, and a plurality of spaced openings in the opposite side of the plate connecting with each of said narrow slits, said slits having compressed edge portions forming lips which contract the mouths of the slits. f'

4. A. drainage plate for oil presses having narrow slits with; contracted mouths in the side of the late which faces the material being presse face depressions in said side of the plate connecting with said slits, and a plurality of spaced openings in the opposite side of the plate connecting with each of said narrow slits.

5. A drainage plate for oil presses having narrow drainage slits in the side thereof which faces the material being pressed, and

a plurality of spaced openings in the opposite side of the plate connecting with each of said narrow slits, said plate having shal- 10w face depressions from which said slits extend into the plate.

6. A drainage plate for oil presses having narrow drainage slits months in the side thereof which faces the material being pressed, and a plurality of with contracted i spaced openings in the opposite side of the plate connecting with each of said slits, said plate having shallow face depressions from which said slits extend into the plate.

7. A press cage provided with a lining plate having narrow drainage slits with contracted months in its inner side, depressions in its inner face connecting with said slits, and a plurality of spaced openings connecting with each of said slits.

Witness my hand, this 24th day of December, 1917.

ALFRED W. FRENCH. Witnesses:

C. M. FRENCH, WM. C001: ROGERS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). 0. 

